Look Before You Leap
by randomfangirl713
Summary: One day, Itachi and Kisame are attacked by ANBU and eventually cornered near a cliff. Itachi is forced to jump. Unable to break his fall, he's separated from Kisame and left for dead. What will happen when Hyuuga Akira discovers him? ItachixOC SasuSaku
1. Prologue

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and comments, I really appreciate it!


	2. Have We Met Before?

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

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	3. Waking Up

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

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	4. Training

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

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	5. Saito and Misaki

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

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	6. Shower Scene Slipup

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

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	7. Hanabi Festival

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

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	8. Eyesight

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

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	9. Tsukuyomi

For the next few days, Akira continued healing Itachi, but all that Akira's body could manage was once a day. If she tried two, Akira predicted that she'd most likely either pass out, or maybe if she pushed herself too far, die.

Itachi still continued to teach her, and thanks to his eyesight being improved, Akira's training sessions with Itachi only became harder. He could actually watch her movements and footwork now, and now he was even more critical or Akira's fighting style.

"Glad that's over…" Akira murmured as she gulped down the contents of her water bottle. She had just finished her training with Itachi for that day, and Itachi had to admit that she was improving.

"You're showing some improvement, but you've still got a long way to go." Itachi tried not to make his statement sound too much like a compliment.

"Figures." Akira's water bottle was now empty. "Ready to head back?"

"Hn."

The two of them began walking back to Akira's house.

"At least this time you actually look like you're breaking a sweat." Akira grinned.

"Hn."

Akira frowned. "In a few hours I should be able to heal your eyes." Akira spotted her house in the distance, "Is that okay with you?"

"Hn."

"Have some variety with what you say, will you?" Akira's facial expression was still a frown as they reached the building, and Akira opened the door with her key.

"I'll just be cleaning." Akira informed, "Then I'll make lunch, and after lunch I'll heal you."

Itachi didn't say anything as he walked off, most likely to do a bit of training by himself.

_What is his never-ending problem?_ Akira wondered as she went to fetch her cleaning supplies.

A few hours later, Akira had finished cleaning and was almost done making dinner when she heard Itachi return.

"Okairi!" Akira called when she heard the door open, and she turned off the stove to go greet him.

"Hn." Itachi had sheen on sweat on his forehead, but other than that he looked perfectly normal.

"Lunch's almost ready." Akira informed, "It should be done in a few minutes."

"Be sure to call me." Itachi walked towards the bathroom to most likely shower.

"Hai." Akira said as she walked back into the kitchen.

Soon, Itachi had finished showering and Akira had had completed making lunch. They ate in silence, until it was finally time for Akira to heal Itachi's eyes yet again…

"Hey, Itachi…" Akira began, her tone of voice sounding hesitant.

"Hn?" Itachi glanced at her.

"I'd like to try something new when I heal your eyes this time." Akira nervously twisted her hair around one of her fingers.

"What would you like to try?" Itachi inquired.

"I'd like to see what I can do if I heal your eyes while you have that second stage activated!" Akira blurted, hoping he wouldn't object.

"I'm not opposed to it." Itachi's passive tone surprised Akira.

"Okay…" Akira breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want him to think that she was only toying with such an important thing like his eyes…

Itachi was there to meet her in the living room when she got onto her knees and Itachi laid his head onto her lap like they usually did.

"Ready?" Akira confirmed as Itachi closed his eyes and activated his sharingan.

Using her byakugan, Akira could tell that all these sessions were paying off. Itachi's eyes were still severely damaged, but it was definitely better than it had been.

"You can activate the second stage now." Akira instructed as she poured a bit more of her chakra into his eyes.

Itachi obeyed. It was nice to be able to see again, but when he went back to Akatsuki, he'd probably be forced to undo all the repairs Akira had done…

A bead of sweat slid down the side of her face as Akira continued to heal Itachi. Healing him wasn't as exhausting as it had been in the past, but it still took up a lot of chakra.

Just as Akira was about to finish, there was a knock on the door, and Itachi's eyes instinctively opened.

* * *

Saito impatiently rapped his knuckles on Akira's door. He'd finally convinced himself go to her house, and when Akira answered the door, Saito intended to demand that he meet the man living with her. If what Akira said was true, for all Saito knew, he could be dangerous…

* * *

Akira had only looked into Itachi's eyes for a few seconds, but it had still been long enough to pull her into an entirely different world…

Akira's vision went blank for a short period of time, and when she could finally see again, she was in an entirely different place; the sky was red and there were black clouds swirling around her.

"Where am I?" Akira wondered, looking around. _How did I get here?_

"Akira." Akira turned to see two familiar figures standing in front of her.

"Mom… Dad…?" Akira couldn't believe her eyes. Her parents were long dead!

"You didn't even try to protect us. You just hid in a closet while we were murdered." Her mother's voice sounded abnormally cold.

"No, Mom—" Akira tried to protest.

"You're a failure, Akira. I'm ashamed to call a coward like you my child." Akira heard her father speak next.

Speechless, Akira felt tears welling up in her eyes. That was so long ago… how was this happening?!

A few seconds later, Akira was reliving the night when her village was slaughtered. Except this time, she didn't just see her parents getting murdered; she saw her entire village.

Akira wanted to scream as she kept seeing the gang members murdering everyone she had known before she had come to the whirlpool village; Akira felt like something was stuck in her throat as the images kept flashing before her eyes. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to help someone, but only to find that she couldn't.

She felt frozen in place, almost like this genjutsu had turned her body to stone. Akira couldn't move; all she could do was stand there and watch…

Unable to hold herself back any longer, Akira was finally able to move as she squeezed her eyes shut and screamed as loudly as she could, trying to drown out the sounds of the people from her old village being slaughtered.

* * *

It only took Itachi a few seconds to realize what had happened, and it took even less time for him to find that he couldn't reverse it.

_I can't bring her out!_ Itachi was doing everything he could to maintain his composure. He _never_ used Tsukuyomi on anyone unless he absolutely had to; Sasuke, Kakashi, and so many others had suffered through this illusion that brought your worst fears and memories back to life…

_Damn it…_Itachi was still failing to cancel the genjutsu._ STOP!_ Itachi's mind screamed. Then he felt an excruciating pain in his eyes as the red sky and black clouds gradually started to disappear, and Akira's living room began coming back in focus.

Itachi quickly got off Akira's lap and sat up. He glanced back at her, and noticed she was shaking. Her byakugan had been deactivated, but her lavender eyes were still wide with shock and there were tears streaming down her face.

"Akira?" Itachi touched her shoulder. Her time in Tsukuyomi had been shortened to the equivalent of about a day and a half instead of three days, but it had probably felt like three days for her…

Itachi blinked a few times as he felt his eyes watering, but not with tears; forcing Tsukuyomi to end had apparently done a number on his eyes, because a few seconds later, streaks of blood slipped out of his eyes.

"Itachi…?" Akira finally managed to say when she saw the crimson tears sliding down his face. "You're eyes…"

Itachi quickly wiped away the blood with the back of his hand. Usually that only happened after he used the amaterasu.

Trying not to let Itachi see the tears in her eyes, Akira suddenly leapt forward and tightly embraced Itachi in an attempt to calm herself. _Just what the hell was that…? _Akira thought. It had felt like she'd been living that nightmare for days, but in reality, only a few seconds had passed. And Itachi's eyes… they were bleeding.

Akira couldn't hold herself back as all the memories of the worst night of her life came rushing back to her. She could still see everyone's faces before they were slaughtered, but Akira found that she couldn't remember the faces of the ones who killed them…

Itachi didn't even push her away. On the contrary, he brought up his arms and let her cry on his shoulder; he'd overstepped a boundary, and brought back memories that she had probably tried to very hard forget. Even if it had been unintentional, he'd still done it… In a way, it reminded him of the night when he had been ordered to kill his family, which was also when he'd first used the mangekyou on Sasuke. He hadn't wanted to do it; he hadn't wanted to do any of it…

_I'm sorry…_ Itachi held her even more tightly while Akira kept crying. _I'm so sorry…_

She had done nothing to deserve that. All she'd been trying to do was heal him…

"How's your eyesight?" Akira someone how managed to speak, although her speech was somewhat muffled because he face was still pressed into his chest.

"It's fine." Itachi lied. Actually, no, it wasn't; he was almost back where they had started thanks to what had just happened.

"Liar." Akira's lip quivered as she let go of him and wiped her eyes. She probably looked like such an idiot…

"Are you okay?" The concern in Itachi's voice shocked her. Reliving the night her parents had been murdered had definitely scared her, but the fact that Itachi actually sounded concerned was flat out astounding!

"Yeah; or at least I will be." Akira forced a smile, "So that's that technique that's making you go blind?" Akira tried to change the subject.

_That's only the beginning of what I can do…_ Itachi thought to himself before replying. "Hn."

"Let's not try that again." Akira forced yet another smile, "Your eyes don't look so good." Akira remarked, noticing that there were still marks on his face from where he'd wiped away the blood.

"It's fine." Itachi's usual emotionless expression was back, and his voice no longer sounded concerned.

"Akira! Are you home?" Akira heard another knock followed by Saito's voice.

"Saito…" Akira's face formed a scowl as she wiped her eyes again to go answer the door.

"Hai?" Akira did her best to look pleasant. Oh God, why the hell did she even bother?

"Akira," Akira recognized this as Saito's serious voice, "We need to talk."

"About what, Saito? Whatever it is I'm sure it could wait until later—" Akira tried to persuade.

"It's about the guy living with you." Saito cut off.

"Look, I _really_ don't have time for this." Akira was really not in the mood to talk about Itachi; _especially_ after spending what felt like a day and a half in Tsukuyomi…

"I'd at least like to meet him." Saito reasoned, "For all you know he could be dangerous."

"Saito, he's fine." Akira frowned, knowing that was a lie; if Itachi wanted to, Akira knew he could easily kill her at any time.

"Is he around?" Saito inquired for a second time.

"…" Akira tried to think of the right words to say.

"You mean me?" Another voice interrupted them as Akira turned to see Itachi standing behind her.

"So you're the guy living with Akira?" Saito's tone didn't exactly sound friendly.

"Do you have a problem with it?" Itachi's voice was equally cold.

"Ano…" Akira felt really awkward seeing as she was the topic of the dispute, "Saito, I think you should leave."

"For starters, what's your name?" Saito ignored Akira.

"Saito…" Akira's tone was warning.

"Uchiha Itachi." Itachi wasn't afraid of this Saito. From what he'd heard from Akira, he was a rather persistent suitor of hers.

"Interesting name," Saito's reply sounded more like a retort, "Well, _Itachi_, I'd like to ask you a few questions before I leave."

Itachi just gave him a blank stare.

"Where are you from and how did you meet Akira?"

"…" Itachi was not about to answer that question.

"Saito, that's enough!" Akira raised her voice, "I'm a grown woman, and I can take care of myself!"

"I'm just looking out for you—" Saito protested.

"I don't need you looking out for me!" Akira snapped, "If anything, I'd like you to back off! I have told you _twice_ that I am NOT interested; get the freaking hint!"

And on that note, Akira slammed the door in his face.

"That felt good." Akira admitted, "But I'll probably regret it tomorrow…" Akira realized, knowing that she'd have to face him the following day whether she wanted to or not.

Itachi didn't bother to say anything. He'd put Akira through enough today; it probably wouldn't be the best idea to anger her any further.

Part of that outburst was pent up frustration; the other part was the fact that Saito had been the one who made Itachi open his eyes, putting her through that hell…

_I never want to do that again…_ Akira could only wonder how Itachi had gotten such an eye technique. All she had was 360 degree vision, which, compared to Itachi's sharingan, was nothing…

For the rest of the day, Itachi and Akira barely said a word to each other. Kaname and Eri didn't come by either, so their conversations were nothing more than awkward silence. Akira did her homework while Itachi just did whatever Itachi does in his spare time. After Akira had prepared dinner, they ate in silence, and then after cleaning the dishes, both of them decided to go to bed early that night.

"Oyasumi…" Akira said unsurely as Itachi disappeared into her room.

"Hn." Was Itachi's only reply.

Akira fell asleep surprisingly easily that night as she lay on her couch with nothing more than a blanket to cover her. She managed to distract herself long enough to fall asleep by worrying about what she was going to say to Saito the next day; and thankfully, her slumber was dreamless.

But unfortunately, Akira didn't manage to stay asleep. Usually the constant pitter-patter of raindrops on her windows usually lulled her to sleep, but tonight, it kept her awake as disturbing images of blood and murder kept flashing through her head.

_It was only an illusion…_ Akira reasoned, but in her heart, she knew it had really happened. She may not have seen all her friends being killed, but Akira knew that was probably what it had looked like.

Akira jumped as she heard a loud boom of thunder.

_I need to go splash some cold water on my face…_ Akira thought as she finally stood up and walked towards her room where the bathroom was located.

Akira slipped into her room and did her best not to wake Itachi as she opened the door to the bathroom, closed it behind her, and flipped on the light switch.

Twisting the facet on the sink to turn on the water, Akira watched the water pour out before placing her hands underneath the flow and then splashed the cool liquid onto her face.

_I feel calmer, but now I'm wide-awake…_ Akira realized with a sigh as she turned off the water, and a few seconds later, she heard another loud boom of thunder, except this time, the lights in the bathroom flickered, and then completely turned off.

_Great, and now the electricity is out too!_ Akira rolled her eyes until she jumped at yet another loud rumble from the sky.

Akira sighed and leaned against the bathroom wall, trying to ignore the disturbing images that were flashing through her head because of the rain.

* * *

Itachi heard a rustle that immediately brought him out of his nightmare. For once, Itachi was actually glad that something had woken him up. He was having yet another dream about the night he'd slaughtered his clan. Every night, Itachi saw the faces of everyone he'd killed: his family members, his friends… and most of all, his little brother's expression after he'd seen what Itachi had done.

_All the more reason that I should leave…_ Itachi mentally sighed, realizing that if he continued to stay with her, word would eventually get out, and more than just a handful of people would know his location…

Turning his attention to the half open bathroom door, Itachi managed to hear someone breathing even with the raindrops in the background. Quietly getting out of bed, Itachi approached the bathroom, prepared to attack the figure if it was an intruder. He peered around the corner and saw the figure leaning against the wall of the bathroom … and this figure had _blonde_ hair…

"Akira?" Itachi barely managed to recognize her. His eyesight had almost gone back to normal, after all...

* * *

Akira jumped when she heard his voice, and when she looked up Itachi could see her eyes were full of fear.

"Oh, hi, Itachi." Akira forced a smile to her lips like she usually did when she was trying to hide the fact that she was in pain, "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Hn." Itachi's dark eyes gazed into Akira's, but she forced herself to look away.

"Sorry," Akira apologized again, "The electricity went out."

There was another loud thunderclap that obviously took Akira by surprise, seeing as she suddenly leapt forward and hugged Itachi!

Itachi looked surprised for a split second before he was about to push her away. But instead, he just decided to let her be scared. Akira's experience in Tsukuyomi was still on her mind, and Itachi knew that needed to give her some time to recover from it…

"Sorry…" Akira apologized quietly, "Can I stay here tonight?" Akira's voice became even quieter, "Please…"

_I'm the one that should be apologizing…_ Itachi thought to himself, not even bothering to let go of her. "Hn."

"Arigato…"

Akira finally let go of Itachi as he led her over to the bed. It felt good to finally be able to lie in her own bed again…

Just as she lay down, she noticed Itachi turning away to leave!

"Wait!" Akira even surprised herself when she grabbed the Uchiha's wrist to stop him.

"Hn?" Itachi's cold gaze turned back to her.

"Please, don't leave me alone…" Akira felt her cheeks turning red, "If you go, the it'll be the same as if I were sleeping alone on the couch…"

Itachi thought for a second. Well it _was_ his fault that she felt like this…

"Hn." Itachi finally replied. _She'd better not tell her friends about this…_ Itachi thought as he returned to the bed. _This is not happening again…_

As the next boom of thunder came, Akira was finally able to feel calm with Itachi lying next to her.

"What are you afraid of?" Akira inquired randomly, trying not to blush with Itachi's face so close to hers... oh well; it was better than being alone.

"What brought that on?" Itachi raised a dark eyebrow as they faced each other in the medium sized bed. Itachi didn't feel cramped, but Akira's bed wasn't exactly spacious either…

"Well here I am looking like a complete mess while you're getting off humiliation free." Akira shrugged, "Just thought I'd ask."

An image of Sasuke flashed through Itachi's head. Itachi wasn't afraid of himself dying; in fact, when the time came for his little brother to kill him, Itachi would welcome death like a long-lost friend. But if anything happened to Sasuke, Itachi would never forgive himself.

"Nothing comes to mind." Itachi lied.

"Somehow I doubt that, but if you don't want to tell just say so." Akira shrugged again.

"So what about the rain is scaring you so much?" It was Itachi's turn to ask a question.

"When I was ten, my entire village was massacred by a gang with the exception of me." Akira not to let Itachi hear the pain in her voice, "It was raining that night…"

"How'd you get here?" Itachi knew that if she talked about it to someone, she'd probably recover from her time in Tsukuyomi more quickly.

"A group of ANBU brought me here." Akira smiled softly, "I don't remember that ANBU's name, but I remember his mask…"

The room went silent.

"Did it look like a weasel?" Itachi guessed, breaking the silence, "White with red markings on it?"

"How did you know…?" Akira trailed off. _How did Itachi know what the mask looked like…?_ Akira wondered.

"I thought you looked familiar." Itachi's voice was surprisingly quiet, "Six years ago, my team was assigned a mission to go to a slaughtered village to see if we could capture any of the people who killed the villagers; our second objective was to check for survivors."

"That was you?!" Akira gawked, "Wait, you're ANBU?!"

"Used to be." Itachi corrected darkly.

_Wait, why the hell did I just mention I used to be ANBU?_ Itachi wondered. _I can't mention anything about my past to her; I know that!_

"So you're the one that brought me here?" Akira found herself remembering when Itachi had found her that night. A clear image of Itachi's twelve-year-old face was brought back to Akira's memory.

"Hn."

"Now that I think about it, you don't look much different now than you did back then." Akira commented with a yawn. The thunder had stopped, but the rain was still steadily coming down. But somehow, when she was talking with Itachi, she could deal with all her fears and problems…

"Hn." Itachi couldn't think of a better reply. At the moment, he really wasn't up for any more midnight chatting; he was actually kind of tired…

* * *

"Thank you." Akira finally got to thank her rescuer. Hell, she'd even been able to pay him back for saving her.

Itachi and Akira spent the next few moments in silence; both of them just lay there, sharing each other's body heat.

"Itachi?" Akira attempted to strike up a conversation, and when he didn't reply, Akira repeated herself. "Itachi…?" Akira took one look at the Uchiha's still face, and she realized that he was already asleep.

Akira smiled to herself. Itachi's face actually didn't look too bad when he was asleep; he didn't look as emotionless.

_Good night, Itachi…_ Akira was still smiling as she closed her eyes. There was another thunderclap, but Akira didn't even seem to notice it as she finally relaxed enough to drift off to sleep. _Thank you…_

* * *

**Obviously, this was one of the more dramatic chapters, and I guarantee you there's more where that came from!**

**Once again, OOC Itachi... Thank you for reading! Reviews are appreciated!**


	10. Disease

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and comments, I really appreciate it!


	11. Kisame

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and comments, I really appreciate it!


	12. Deidara and Tobi

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and comments, I really appreciate it!


	13. Ouch

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and comments, I really appreciate it!


	14. Apology

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and comments, I really appreciate it!


	15. Konan

Um, hi, sorry to say, but I'm going to be putting this story on hold. I really don't like how I've written it so far, so this is going to be going through some major revisions! Please be patient, one of these days a new and improved version will be posted here!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and comments, I really appreciate it!


End file.
